Today’s Sports Stat: October 2, 2018

The 2018 MLB playoffs get started on October 3. Let’s take a look at a few stats you may not know about the 2018 regular season and a couple of Milwaukee Brewers stats.

The Baltimore Orioles became the fifth team in MLB history to win fewer than 50 games in a full-schedule regular season (either a 162 or 154-game schedule). The O’s won only 46 games this year. The other teams: 2003 Detroit Tigers (43 wins), 1962 New York Mets (40 wins), the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies (47 wins) and the 1952 Pittsburgh Pirates (42 wins).

Three American League teams, the Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros and New York Yankees each won 100 games this season, the first time in MLB history that three teams from the same league won 100 or more games in a season. It was the seventh time in MLB history that three MLB teams won 100 or more games in the same season, but the first time all three teams were from the same league (American or National league). Three teams won 100 games last year, two A.L. clubs, the Astros and Indians, and one N.L. team, the Dodgers. The other years when three MLB teams won 100 games: 2003 (Atlanta, San Francisco, N.Y. Yankees), 2002 (Atlanta, the Yankees, Oakland), 1998 (Braves, Yankees and Astros), 1977 (Kansas City, Philadelphia and the Yankees) and 1942 (Brooklyn Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and Yankees).

The most improved team in 2018 based on how many more wins they had in 2018 than 2017 were the Oakland A’s. They increased their win total by 22 wins in 2018 over the previous season. The team with the biggest drop in wins was the Orioles who saw their win total from 2017 drop by 28 victories. Here are the teams that increased their win total this year over the previous season: Oakland (+22), Atlanta (+18), Boston (+15), Philadelphia (+14), Seattle (+11), Milwaukee (+10), Tampa bay (+10), N.Y Yankees (+9), San Francisco (+9), N.Y. Mets (+7), Pittsburgh (+7), St. Louis (+5), Colorado (+4), Cubs (+3), Houston (+2)… and the teams that saw their win totals decrease this season over 2017: Baltimore (-28), Kansas City )-22), Washington (-15), Miami (-14), L.A. Dodgers (-12), Arizona (-11), Cleveland (-11), Texas (-11), Minnesota (-7), Chicago White Sox (-5), San Diego (-5), Toronto (-3), Cincinnati (-1). Two teams, the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels, each had the same number of wins in 2018 as 2017.

Christian Yelich slugged 25 home runs in the second half of the 2018 season, the second most homers by a Milwaukee Brewers player after the All-Star break in team history, Richie Sexson holds the record with 27 second half HRs; he hit them in 2001. Others on the list: Prince Fielder, 24 in 2009; Ryan Braun, 23 in 2007; and Gorman Thomas, 22 in 1979.

The Brewers ended the 2018 season by going 20-7 in the last month (that includes their tiebreaker win against the Cubs on October 1, which counts in the regular season stats and is considered a September win for the sake of monthly win totals). The 20-7 record in September was a .741 winning percentage, the highest September winning percentage in team history. The Brewers won 60% or more of their games in September in six other seasons: 1992 (22-9, .710), 1988 (18-8, .692), 1987 (21-11, .656), 2012 (20-11, .645), 1991 (21-12, .636) and 2011 (15-10, .600).